Pierre Henry: Les petits métiers (1995)

In the 1980s/1990s Pierre Henry (who turned 80 a few days ago) produced a string of simply beautiful lyrical works for the West German Radio's Studio Akustische Kunst (Studio Acoustic Art), then headed by radiophonic pioneer Klaus Schöning. To me these works are among the very best Pierre Henry has ever produced. Most of them are still unavailable on disc (except for La ville, Antagonisme, Une tour de Babel).

• La Ville (1982)
• Journal de mes sons (1982)
• Crystal mémoire I (1988, with Heinz Bennent & Hanna Schygulla)
• Crystal mémoire II (1988, with Hanna Schygulla & Elise Caron)
• Une maison de sons (1990)
• Les petits métiers (1995)
• Phrases de Quatuor/Schubertnotizen (1996)
• Antagonismen (1996)
• Une histoire naturelle (1997)
• Une tour de Babel (1999)

Today we present you Les petits métiers from 1995, an anthology of Henry's film works. Henry took 15 of his compositions for film and re-arranged them to a unique sound suite with many unusual particles (e.g. Martin Luther King's voice) for you to enjoy. Please note that this recording was taped from FM radio (stereo/320) and will not necessarily please the audiophiles. But I think the sound quality is still good enough to honor the quality and rarity of Henry's composition.

Sharebee (Part 1)
Sharebee (Part 2)
FM radio (stereo) @ 320

Pass = orpheusmachine (as usual)